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Petal Pillow Tutorial

Today we’re going to make a Petal Pillow. Its very easy, cost me under ten bucks, and took about half an hour to make. Plus it will add lots of summer color (is it summer yet?) to your house.

First you’ll need:

-a little over a 1/2 yard of fabric….19 inches to be exact. You can get away with a half yard if you already have it, just cut your pieces to 18″ instead of 19″. I used home weight fabric from Joann’s.

– 1/4 yard felt. Buy the good stuff on the bolt and not the cheap sheets in the kids crafts section. The stuff I used is made from recycled plastic bottles and is really stiff and thick. This felt came on a 60″ bolt, but if the bolt is smaller you might want to buy a half yard just to be safe.

– a large and small cup (or other circles) for tracing, a large bowl for tracing, a pen, scissors, and cardstock to make your template.

Trace the rims of your cups onto your cardstock and cut out.

Pin the templates to your felt and cut out circles. I was able to cut 3-4 circles at a time by folding the felt.

Cut out roughly 30 large circles, and 20 small circles. You can always use more or less….but more the merrier I always say.

On the right side of the 19 in. by 19 in. square, trace a bowl or large plate marking a large circle in the middle. Leave 4-5 inches or so around the edges. (my circle is hard to see in the next pic…squint real hard and you’ll see it!)

Line up the edge of a large petal along the line you just traced. As you sew the petals on, overlap the petals about a 1/4 inch. Continue sewing around the circle, adding petals.

When you get near where you started, put a petal in between the previous petals, so they overlap. Then you can start putting petals underneath the previous set. I lined up the straight edges of my petals only 1/4 in. or so underneath the previous petals because I liked them packed in there. Again…the more the merrier and the closer they are the better it will look.

If you want extra volume in your petals, you can curve them and fold the edges as you sew to make the petals stand up a little bit. I started curving and bunching them a little bit on the third or fourth row.

After you’ve done four or five rows of large petals and you’re getting close to the center, you can switch to your small petals. Again, as you get closer to the center you can curve and bunch the straight edge of the petals so they stand up a little and look like real petals. When you get to the center add a couple petals that are good and bunched at the bottom for extra volume.

Cut a small circle out of felt about 1 inch, or large enough to cover your edges. Sew down with a few stitches in the center of the flower.

Your done with the hard part…now lets make your pillow.

Finish the short edges (12 inch and 15 inch) of your two back rectangles by folding one side under 1/2″ twice and sewing.

Place your pillow front and back pieces right sides together, lining up edges. Put the larger rectangle down first against the flower right sides together, then put your smaller rectangle on top if it, right sides together. Pin well.

Sew around the edges with a 1/2″ inch inseam. Because home decor fabric frays easily, serge or do a quick zig zag stitch around the edges. Trim your corners and turn inside out.

Love this! Mine took a little longer than 30 minutes, but maybe that was due to the kiddos bugging me! Will be reviewing your tutorial (in a couple of days!) on my blog. http://www.cheepmomma.blogspot.com

so, I had seen a really cool pillow at Jama's house and thought "wow, that is the coolest pillow Jama has ever bought!" Then the other day I was messing around on you amazing website and saw this great tutorial. And then next time I was at Jama's I checked the pillow. Sure enough, had your momma's tag on it 🙂 LOVE IT!

I totally LOVE this tutorial and ran across it the oher day. I made it last night and would love to link the tutorial to your blog if you don't mind. Keep up the creative blog, I love seeing quilting that's not so old.

I'm new to sewing (I just got a sewing machine last month!) and have been looking around for a project that looks awesome, but seems like even a novice like me could do. I think I found it! I can't wait to try it out 🙂

Just made this today with your tutorial!!! It is wonderful! I added it to your flickr group. My daughter has been eyeing these at pricey stores like Pottery Barn. $25 or more!!! She wants an orange and a hot pink. I will be doing the orange one this week. Thank you so much!!!

Thanks for the tutorial, I've made two! I love these – the texture adds a lot to the bedding. I did end up using felt rectangles from the fabric store for one of them – I just couldn't help myself – they had textured felt! Turned out great!!!!!! Thanks

I originally found this post as a guest post from V & Co. I have to say… thank you for such a detailed post! I FINALLY got around to posting the steps of me following your amaze tutorial on my blog here.Thanks again! My friend loved the pillow. I think navy and teal or navy and yellow scheme next? Thanks again!

I Love your petal pillow!!! I’ve been looking for something to do with my mom’s clothing that no one wants (she recently passed away) and I’ll give these lovely pillows to my family members as a keepsake. They will be so thrilled! Thank You!!!

[…] Everyone craves a change from time to time, especially when we’re trying to shake off the last bits of winter, but a major redecorating project is not always the solution we can or want to go for. The easiest and affordable way to give your room an instant makeover is to add a set of decorative throw pillows. Invite spring to your living room by throwing some pastel colors and flower appliques on your sofa. The choice of beautiful pillows is tremendous, and if you don’t mind a little DIY, the web will flood you with inspirations. Just check out those patchworked sprocket pillows or this felt petal applique. […]